Rubber Man is a character. It is a character in the first season (dubbed by fans "Murder House").

The Rubber Suit is a BDSM fetish coverall made of shiny black latex. It conceals the entire body except for the eyes. The mask is detachable from the rest of the suit by a zipper. The suit was initially purchased by Chad, but later taken on by Tate Langdon for his Rubber Man alter-ego.

Contents

History

Chad Warwick

Chad Warwick, resident of the Murder House in 2010, began sensing that his partner, Patrick, was distant. He discovered that Patrick was conducting an online affair on a BDSM chatroom. Unsure how to react, but determined to spice up their life and not lose Patrick, Chad went to an S&M shop, where he purchased the suit. Upon returning home with it, Patrick was not quite receptive, claiming he prefers leather to latex.

Tate Langdon

Although the suit was not used by Chad and Patrick, Tate Langdon made good use of it. As Chad and Patrick's relationship issues deepened, Tate realized that they were unlikely to adopt a child. Because he promised Nora a baby, Tate took it upon himself to murder both Chad and Patrick, hoping that the next residents would help him make good on his word. Donning the rubber suit, Tate drowned Chad and beat Patrick with a fire poker, later setting up the murders to look like the couple was involved in a murder-suicide.

Shortly after moving into the house, the Harmons discovered the suit in the attic, after which it was disposed of by Ben. However, Tate retrieved it from the trash outside and took advantage of the opportunity to fulfill his promise to Nora. While Ben was sleepwalking, Tate, dressed as Rubber Man, entered the bedroom and raped Vivien, who believed Tate to be her husband.

On Halloween, Vivien hired interior decorators, who turned out to be the spirits of Chad and Patrick. Tate, again under the guise of Rubber Man, stalked the three from outside. When Vivien realized the house was haunted and planned to leave with Violet, Tate donned the suit once again to get rid of her. As Rubber Man, he and Hayden appeared to Vivien. He assaulted her but disappeared when Ben and Luke came up the stairs.

When Tate got wind of Ben's plan to send Violet to boarding school, he returned to his alter-ego to knock Ben out. The two got into a fight, but Tate was able to use chloroform to render him unconscious. Moments before passing out, Ben was able to unzip the mask, discovering the Rubber Man's identity.

Ben Harmon

Following Ben Harmon's death, a new family, the Ramos', moved into the Murder House. In hopes of preventing the same tragedies, the Harmons and other benevolent ghosts conspired to scare the Ramos' out of the house. Ben donned the Rubber Suit and tried to scare off Stacy Ramos, chasing her through the house and into the basement. Towards the end of the haunting Vivien stabs Ben as a final fright to the Ramos' thus destroying the suit and encouraging the family to flee the property.

Notes

Question: Which one of you would like to take credit for coming up with Rubber Man?

Falchuk That’s definitely Ryan.

Murphy I collect books. And I found an old book from the ’70s – basically it was a how-to-care for your S&M-wear manual. How to oil it and treat it. And on the cover it had a picture of that suit, and there was a person in it. And I was like: What would you do if that thing walked into your house? And you thought it was the person you loved, wearing it, tricking you? And then we created a back story for Rubber Man. We knew it had to be something unworldly and odd.[1]

When in bed with Vivien, Rubber Man appears to have blue eyes. In other scenes, he has a different eye color. This should be discounted however, since it is a goof: In order to make the actress portraying Vivien, Connie, more comfortable, the director asked the actor portraying Ben, Dylan McDermott, put on the rubber suit just for this one scene. Dylan and Connie know each other well. This was not supposed to convey anything about the storyline, it was just supposed to make the scene easier to play for the actress. [2]

TV Guide Magazine: Dylan, what was it like getting into that fetish rubber suit?

McDermott: I had been fitted for that latex suit, which is pretty amazing, by the way. But, alas, I am not the Rubber Man.

Britton: They actually hired a guy [Riley Schmidt] to play the Rubber Man, but then when we shot that sex scene [in the pilot], they had Dylan wear the suit so it would be a little bit more comfortable for me. I was really nervous, and then once we actually shot it, I went up to Ryan and was like, "That wasn't so bad." And he goes, "Ugh, I'm horrified." One of my favorite things was that Ryan Murphy was so shaken by his own creation. He could barely watch![2]